AUGUST SENIOR MOMENT WITH BARRY (AND LIZ) DAVID: COLOR BLINDNESS

COLOR BLINDNESS

by Barry David with an assist from Liz

My 7-year-old granddaughter Lakshmi and I went miniature golfing. Kids love that, especially when they beat Papa; albeit their scoring needs attention. This outing was so successful that I promised to take her to the golf driving range some day and give her a lesson in “hitting them far.”

Kids don’t forget promises.

So, a few days later, we took my clubs (I don’t play golf, I play “at” golf!) and her older sister’s clubs to the range.

We unloaded our clubs and picked out a couple of spots with open mats. She was very interested in this new experience and asked me many questions. Among them, “Who comes here to hit golf balls?” I explained that people come to practice their swings. A few minutes later, she came over to tell me she saw Tiger Woods a few positions down and “he really hits them far.” I responded that “I’m not sure he practices here, but let’s go see.”

We saw some people driving golf balls very well. All genders, races, colors, sizes, shapes; couldn’t tell their religions. It was simply a Norman Rockwell American scene.

She took me over to see Tiger, who she was watching, a good golfer swinging away; however, he was not a black golfer.

Turns out this was the first white Tiger Woods I’ve ever seen.

I merely said, ”Great swing, but I don’t think that’s Tiger.” We continued the lesson I was giving her. She does very well at sports and enjoyed our day, especially since we stopped for ice cream after.

I got to thinking that night about the song from South Pacific that goes “you’ve got to be taught to hate and fear…” She was into golf, a good golfer’s swing, not color.

I wonder if there is hope that she and her generation will change the dynamic and, as they grow up, open our hearts and minds to create a world that is color blind and fully inclusive.

As an avid golfer, I was particularly taken with the description of your granddaughter’s driving range experience. And yes, I just quoted those lyrics from “South Pacific” to someone when we were discussing the increase in racism—or at least its being more mainstream—we see today. All we have right now is hope.